Irvine, Calif., July 30, 2026 - The University of California, Irvine has named Julie A. Washington dean of its highly ranked School of Education. She has served as interim dean of the school since April 2025.

"Since its founding in 2012, the UC Irvine School of Education has grown into one of the nation's finest, and Julie Washington is the right leader to continue moving us forward," said Chancellor Howard Gillman. "I am confident that under her leadership, the school will continue this trajectory as it explores improved methods of teaching and trains the next generations of teachers."

Renowned for its commitment to improving educational opportunity, UC Irvine's School of Education is ranked as one of the country's top graduate schools in the field. U.S. News & World Report places it 18^th overall and 10^th among public schools in its most recent rankings. The school's flagship education sciences major was among the first of its kind at a major research university and reflects UC Irvine's emphasis on research, equity and innovation.

"We are fortunate to have a leader of Julie Washington's caliber to shape the School of Education's future. I believe her nationally recognized scholarship and strong commitment to expanding opportunity for every learner will continue the school on its path to excellence," said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Hal Stern.

"Education has the power to transform lives and strengthen communities," Washington said. "The UC Irvine School of Education is advancing new knowledge about how people learn and translating that knowledge into meaningful impact. I'm honored to lead this exceptional community of faculty, staff and students as we work together to expand opportunity and shape the future of education."

A member of the UC Irvine faculty since 2021, Washington was previously a professor and chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Georgia State University and a professor and chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Wisconsin. In addition, she held appointments on the research faculty at the University of Michigan and was a professor at Wayne State University.

Washington is a speech-language pathologist and a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She has earned numerous awards for advancing equity in education, and her research is focused on the intersection of literacy, language variation and poverty. She earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree at Spelman College.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation's top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus studio with a Comrex IP audio codec to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at https://news.uci.edu/media-resources.